Long COVID in the United States, 2023, David G. Blanchflower and Alex Bryson

[SNT Gatchaman]

Long COVID in the United States
David G. Blanchflower; Alex Bryson

Although yet to be clearly identified as a clinical condition, there is immense concern at the health and wellbeing consequences of long COVID. Using data collected from nearly half a million Americans in the period June 2022-December 2022 in the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS), we find 14 percent reported suffering long COVID at some point, half of whom reported it at the time of the survey. Its incidence varies markedly across the United States–from 11 percent in Hawaii to 18 percent in West Virginia–and is higher for women than men, among Whites compared with Blacks and Asians, and declines with rising education and income. It is at its highest in midlife in the same way as negative affect. Ever having had long COVID is strongly associated with negative affect (anxiety, depression, worry and a lack of interest in things), with the correlation being strongest among those who currently report long COVID, especially if they report severe symptoms. In contrast, those who report having had short COVID report higher wellbeing than those who report never having had COVID. Long COVID is also strongly associated with physical mobility problems, and with problems dressing and bathing. It is also associated with mental problems as indicated by recall and understanding difficulties. Again, the associations are strongest among those who currently report long COVID, while those who said they had had short COVID have fewer physical and mental problems than those who report never having had COVID. Vaccination is associated with lower negative affect, including among those who reported having had long COVID.

Link | PDF (PLOS ONE)

 

[Hutan]

Ugh

Ever having had long COVID is strongly associated with negative affect (anxiety, depression, worry and a lack of interest in things), with the correlation being strongest among those who currently report long COVID, especially if they report severe symptoms.

Because suddenly developing a debilitating disease that has no treatment and that a substantial proportion of the medical profession* and people in general think you are just being a wuss about is not at all worrying?

*mis-informed by papers like this that play up all the prejudices

The age structure of long COVID tracks that of the unhappiness literature peaking in midlife between the ages of 45 and 49 [22]. This contrasts with the findings in our earlier paper regarding the incidence of COVID [6] which peaked between the ages of 20–24. Long COVID incidence ever and at the time of interview peaked in mid-life.

The incidence of long COVID is highest in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia–which are also among the states with the lowest subjective wellbeing rankings in the United States [21] whilst Hawaii—the highest ranked state on subjective wellbeing [21]–has the lowest incidence of long COVID.

There seems to be no understanding that 'Long Covid' is actually a whole lot of things including damage from severe acute disease.

And, rather than assuming that factors associated with poverty (e.g. previous poor health, comorbidities, repeated exposure to Covid-19, or quality of acute Covid-19 care) might be the reason why certain states had high incidences of Long Covid, 'subjective wellbeing' is highlighted, with its inference that unhappy people get Long Covid. Hawaii is among the states with the lowest poverty; Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia are all among the states with the highest poverty. Of course, not being happy enough is the fault of sad people and can apparently be fixed with mindfulness and anti-depressants, while things like poor medical care require some effort from governments and the health care system to fix.

 

[Hutan]

Long COVID is independently associated with negative affect, however one measures it, and with physical mobility and mental health problems. These associations are strongest among those who report current symptoms of long COVID.

Problems with cognition are termed 'mental health difficulties'

four other potential outcomes of long COVID. The first two are difficulty walking or climbing stairs, what we term ‘mobility’ (column 1), and difficulties with self-care such as washing or dressing (column 2) while the other two relate to cognition—difficulties remembering or concentrating (column 3) and difficulties understanding or being understood (column 4). The pattern of results is identical to those presented in Table 5: compared to those who had never had COVID, short COVID is better than no COVID, whereas long COVID especially with current symptoms generates a significantly higher probability of facing the two physical and two mental health difficulties

In the next paragraph though mental health means something different (negative affect) because

scoring high on mental health problems is associated with problems with mobility, dressing and bathing, remembering and understanding.

 

[Trish]

Hardly surprising that they don't get the nuances of medical terms. Blanchflower is an economist and Bryson is Professor of Quantitive Social Science with a PhD in Sociology and a research focus on 'labour economics and employment relations'
https://www.niesr.ac.uk/people/bryson

So basically they are just looking at the numbers, not understanding the health issues.

 

[Three Chord Monty]

Hardly surprising. A few years ago, Blanchflower, now banned from X/Twitter, went on a sustained pro-PACE troll spree that was unique in its length and blind stubbornness. Numerous attempts were made to provide him with the literature that had subsequently led to the downgrading of PACE, but while he claimed to have read it, he refused to engage on any aspect of the data or its reevaluation. He instead limited his responses to that the Lancet was a superior journal and it was clear that the evidence supported the conclusions, though eventually he did reveal that he was mates with Peter White. It was very strange; his voice was quite odd yet authoritative to the point of being arrogant. Apparently his background as an economist is considerable, and he has served in an official capacity dealing with monetary policy. He seems to have developed an interest in the BPS aspects of Long Covid, with at least one other publication in this area--just what we need, right?

Fortunately I think he's blown any credibility he might've had; a couple of years ago he published a paper predicting a recession due notably to 'women who are afraid to go back to work.' Seriously. The similarities to Edward Shorter are almost uncanny. I expect we'll see more of the same incoherent nonsense; but if there's an upside it's that a basic search on him leads to a truly bizarre rabbit-hole of eccentricity.

 

[Trish]

Next thing they will be telling us that sale of icecream going up causes the weather to get hotter.